Staff at Canadian Blood Services learning the start date to move production and distribution to Dartmouth is now scheduled for April, 13th, 2013.
In a release, Public Affairs Manager Paul McGrath says the new production and distribution site in Dartmouth is finished and currently undergoing validation and commissioning.
Halifax functions will begin being consolidated into the Dartmouth site in February and March.
The Dartmouth Production and Distribution Site will be fully operational by the time the Saint John operations move next spring.
CBS is working with the Provincial Medical Society and others to ensure the province continues to receive the same or an improved level of service when Saint John production and distribution move to Dartmouth.
The process will be monitored before and after to ensure service levels are maintained at the same or an improved level.
We went to social media to ask our listeners whether they think Saint John is as violent as other cities.
Doris says, "there is crime everywhere there are people: it doesn't matter where you live."
But Leanne says she thinks we have a higher crime rate per capita than Toronto.
Kelly tells us Saint John is nothing compared to Prince George...the downtown there is much rougher and she'd never seen so many people on the streets.
Monique agrees: "Violence is everywhere but we Saint Johners should count ourselves lucky. We aren't nearly as bad as some other places. Yes, we have our crimes but I feel safe here in our city compared to others."
Police Chief Bill Reid tells CHSJ News the crime rates aren't low in Saint John compared to what you see elsewhere--but according to Andrea, "of course he would say that."
Play SJ is all about consolidation and the city is being told it has too many sports fields, ball diamnnds and playgrounds spread over too large an area which makes keeping them up to par difficult.
Todd MacDonald of Performance Concepts Consulting says that means city workers are spending too much of their time travelling and not enough maintaining the facilities themselves.
MacDonald says Saint John has 25 sports fields versus the per capita requirement of 14, 30 baseball diamonds versus the per capita requirement of 14, 71 playgrounds versus the per capita requirement of 14 and 3 thousand acres of parkland versus the per capita requirement of 14 hundred.
It's that time of year again. The annual Christmas Bird count at Fundy National park is coming up on December 14th.
The events encourages participation from both inexperienced and experienced birders.
Binoculars are available for rent and to register for the Bird count you must contact the Fundy Guild.
The count begins on the 14th at 8:30am from the Alma Activity Centre.
The Fundy National Park is one of 20 sites in the Province being inventoried for winter bird sightings.
For more info on the Christmas bird count including how to get involved,
you can call 506-887-6094 or click here
It's a sad reality that the holidays aren't a happy time of year for some families in Saint John.
Police Chief Bill Reid tells CHSJ News some at-risk families find the stress of the holidays too much and domestic violence incidents tend to increase.
The Saint John Police Force has a Christmas card campaign to make sure people are aware of the numbers they can call if they need help. They emphasize the police are there to help stop crime before it happens and not simply deal with it after the fact.
The 24-hour line for the Hestia House women's shelter is 506-634-7570
The non-emergency line for the Saint John Police Force is 648-3200
Pointing out the achievements of City youth is the purpose behind a new Fusion event coming up next year.
The group will host an awards ceremony on February 1st to hand out awards in categories like Sports & Recreation, Community Building and Arts and Culture.
Chair Jane MacEachern tells CHSJ News they want Saint Johner's to have a little pride in the good things youth are doing.
She says there are a lot of young people here adding they want to make sure they are recognized for the work they do. She notes some of the awards in the City recognize the more established people in the community.
The deadline to apply for the 1st annual Greater Saint John Youth Achievement Awards is December 20.
For more info, click here
A new movement called Pay It Forward Saint John isn't only about loving your neighbour.
Constable Dan Weber of the Saint John Police Force tells CHSJ News committing random acts of kindness could actually help tackle crime. He says it takes a negative aspect to our society and replaces it with a positive, which is always a good thing.
Suggested ways to "pay it forward" include shopping at charity stores, driving friends in need to doctors appointment, or giving a pet store gift card to a homeless person with a pet.
Despite all the attention of late on prostitution in the city and whether there should be more of a crackdown, Police Chief Bill Reid argues the sex trade here is no different than any other city and the sex trade workers, themselves, are afflicted with a myriad of problems with drug addiction and mental health issues leading to risky and dangerous behaviour.
The Chief also maintains Saint John is no more violent than any other city, pointing out there are far more murders happening in places where turf wars are raging over drugs whereas homicides here are what he calls "one offs".
